7 Habits of Highly Effective Data-Driven Marketers

Have you ever heard that quote, “If you want to get something done, give it to a busy person?”

The same is true for a data-driven person. The data champion at your company is likely the one who is helping to drive leads, close deals and provide the most visibility into how the business is performing.

So what are some common characteristics of highly effective data-driven marketers? They:

Check numbers daily

A data-driven person isn’t only crossing off lines on their to-do list. They focus on the end results. A line item on their to-do list isn’t “write a new blog post about data,” it’s “write a new blog post about data that results in 400 clicks to the company website.” Behind every action, there is a number attached to that action which determines performance and informs how they set their priorities.

Turn numbers into visualizations

Number crunching can be a tedious and grueling effort, but a data-driven person knows how to turn results into a digestible format so that results can be comprehensible and even used by their peers. They want to share what they are learning with the broader team to inspire others to be data-driven and understand that part of their job is to make the information consumable.

Don’t let analysis paralyze them

With so much information at your fingertips, analysis paralysis can be a common side effect of data overload. However, it’s likely that the data champion at your company understands that data is a compass to steer the direction. Not every data-based decision will result in guaranteed success or failure.

Keep data in one place

There are a number of tools out there to help the data-inspired organize, visualize and even monetize data. The data-savvy tend to understand that there is an overwhelming amount of information and they leverage tools to help centralize their data. Having a complete picture of what data points influence results is essential to visualizing the big picture.

They are curious and unbiased

Just like any good researcher, you have to have an insatiable curiosity. Data-driven members of the team not only ask questions of their data, but they have learned how to ask the right questions. If you are trying to prove that the last marketing campaign you did was pure genius, you will skew all of your data points to prove your claim. However, smart marketers remove bias and look for unbiased and purely data-driven answers.

Trust their gut…and their data

As a marketer, I often like to emphasize the importance of creativity and free-thinking, even in our data-driven world. Data champions use their gut and experience along with statistics to land on the most meaningful result.

If you want to get something done, give it to a busy – and data-driven – person.

Lisa Pearson is the CEO of Umbel with 25+years experience in high growth companies. In her multiple executive roles, she’s been responsible for setting company vision and strategy; driving business performance through organic growth, global expansion and M&A; as well as navigating corporate exits including IPO, LBO and acquisition. A NYC transplant, she calls Austin home and has traded bagels for breakfast tacos.